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Showing posts from October 23, 2011

Perception = Reality

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This is how the London Guardian's cartoonist Steve Bell views the St. Paul's Cathedral/Occupy London stand-off.

A subversive Church?

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There's been a bit of minor crime in "Glen Oaks Estates" which borders my community  "Glen Oaks Ridge". The good people of Glen Oaks Estates post a sign from time to time  (see below). If the Church were faithful to Jesus'  subversive message of the Kingdom of God then such a sign would be posted outside every Church building.

In my neighbourhood

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Truly, I saw this horse today.  It was set up near a road in my neighbourhood, quite far from any houses. I could not resist taking a photo'.  But I could not find a Princess.

Jewish, Christian, Muslim: tangled family tales.

I’ve had a couple of good reads. First there was “The Girl from Foreign” by Sadia Shepard (Penguin Press 2008). The author, Sadia Shepard,   grew up in a middle class Muslim home in a Boston suburb.   Her mother was from Pakistan. Her father was an American from the mid-west – who grew up as an Episcopalian, and adopted Islam upon his marriage.   Sadia’s beloved Pakistani grand-mother also lived with them. Grand-mother had been the third wife of a wealthy Pakistani businessman.   She was originally from India, and was born Jewish and adopted Islam when she married and moved to Karachi. [This grand-mother had been a part of the “Bene Israel” community of western India (see below note (1)]. Sadia Shepard received a Fulbright scholarship and went to India for a year to trace her grand-mother’s Jewish heritage, and to connect with the dwindling Bene Israel community.   She also took a side trip to Pakistan for a family wedding. She writes about the tangled web of familial and religio

Sermon for 23rd October 2011

The Revd. J. Michael Povey at All Angels by the Sea, Longboat Key,  Florida . 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8 Tony is madly in love.  He writes to his new girl friend Melissa. “My darling, I would climb towering mountains for you.  I would ford raging rivers for you.  I would cross blazing deserts for you.  With all my heart, Tony”. P.S.  “I’ll see you on Friday if it’s not raining”. That’s not much of a love letter. Does anyone write love letters nowadays?   In our most recent American  history some of the tenderest letters were exchanged between soldiers, sailors and airmen serving in World War II, and their wives, fiancés and girl-friends back home. In the midst of the brutality of war strong men would pen some of the most affectionate and romantic letters.  In turn, the women on the home front would respond with words expressive of the deepest and fondest love. In an earlier era, say in the founding days of our republic, parents would write gorgeous love letters to their children (